As the world of telecommunications becomes increasingly more sophisticated, society reaps the benefits through new, improved, and/or enhanced telecommunication services, as well as more service choices. These enhanced telecommunication services include voice mail, audio name screening, flexible call forwarding, deluxe calling name delivery, and voice activated dialing (VAD) to name a few. These enhanced telecommunication services are available to a user of a modem public switched telephone network (PSTN) and are considered valuable services by many subscribers because they enhance conventional telephone service.
For example, when the VAD service is activated by a subscriber or customer, the VAD service prompts the subscriber to utter a word, phrase, or term and translates that speech into a destination calling line number that corresponds to the desired called party. Typically, the subscriber must activate the VAD service by entering a feature code or dialing a feature directory number. Once the speech recognition is performed, an outbound call is placed through the PSTN, which bridges the call between the subscriber and the called party and occupies two ports in the intelligent peripheral (IP) platform providing the VAD service. This ties up network resources over a potentially large area. For example, the IP platform supporting the VAD service could be in California, the subscriber in Virginia, and the called party in Maine.
Bridging the call in the manner described above does not preserve subscriber billing and interexchange carrier (IXC) preferences. The freedom to choose among a variety of IXCs has become an important aspect of modem telephone service. An IXC is a telephone company that provides connections between local exchanges in different geographic areas. IXCs are commonly referred to as “long-distance carriers” and include AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and others. IXCs provide interLATA service as described in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. LATA (local access and transport area) is a term in the U.S. for a geographic area covered by one or more local telephone companies, which are referred to as local exchange carriers (LECs). A connection between two local exchanges within the LATA is referred to as intraLATA. A connection between a carrier in one LATA to a carrier in another LATA is referred to as interLATA. Because of increased competition and regulatory mandate, it has become significantly more important to preserve a subscriber's billing and IXC preferences for each call originated by the subscriber.
When a calling party picks up a telephone on a subscriber's line and dials a directory number, the subscriber's line carries the communication to a central office switch, or service switching point (SSP), that services the subscriber's line. The central office switch interprets the digits dialed by the calling party and routes the communication to a terminating station, such as a telephone associated with the dialed directory number. The central office switch thus serves as a gateway between the subscriber's line and the local exchange carrier's local exchange network. The central office switch also serves as a gateway between the subscriber's line and a plurality of long distance networks operated by a plurality of long distance carriers.
When the central office switch receives a long distance communication originating on the subscriber's line, the central office switch retrieves the subscriber's long distance carrier-of-record code from a database maintained at the central office switch. Typically, the central office switch responds to the subscriber's long distance carrier-of-record code by physically routing the communication through the long distance network operated by the long distance carrier-of-record.
However, this process is not as simple when the subscriber wishes to activate certain types of assistance, such as, for example, VAD service, when originating a call. Typically, the IP, or service circuit node (SCN), where the assistance is activated would complete the call to the called party and bridge the subscriber and the called party, but this would not preserve subscriber preferences because the outbound leg is originating with the SCN not the subscriber.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system of voice activated dialing that preserves subscriber billing and IXC preferences. There is also a need for a method and system of voice activated dialing that does not require double trunking from the IP back through the PSTN.